What makes life worth living
by Tobina
Summary: Money, passion, envy - all of them very strong motives that have been the cause for many murders before. Now Shinichi must solve the case of a murdered company boss, before it affects his own life. Because some changes can't be reversed. **Part 6 of the Scars-Series**
1. One

****DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Detective Conan or any of its characters and concepts! They all belong to Gosho Aoyama.**

* * *

 **What makes life worth living**

* * *

 **Chapter one**  
Day 1  
o-oOo-o

* * *

Asai Kazuma sighed heavily as he pushed his chair back from his desk and looked at the time. The little clock in the right corner of his computer showed him that he had been here way longer than he had intended.

 _'9:21 pm. If I hurry now, I can still catch the next train home.'_

He shut down the pc and packed up his things. The air conditioning was humming softly, and he made a face, knowing that the air outside would be hot and humid in the middle of august. Summer in Tokyo sure was hot. The days in the city felt like walking through a steaming laundry room and the nights weren't much better.

After making sure that he had everything, and that the lights were all turned off, he stepped out of the office he shared with two other people and left the door open, so that the cleaning crew knew that they could begin their work in this room. They would start vacuum cleaning and dusting on this floor soon and there was no way that he could concentrate with all the noise they made. They would use their keys to close the doors after they were done, though they had to be careful because their keys only locked and didn't unlock.

He walked down the corridor, passing the many other open doors on his way to the elevator that would bring him from the fifty-first floor down to ground level. The pharmacy company he was working for sure had grown over the last years. Not least thanks to the downfall of a certain competitor that had opened the way to new markets they had monopolized before.

Asai remembered well how they suddenly had been flooded with orders, and he had made sure to be a major player during the build up of their new structures, and to be a representative for some of the most important new customers.

And in a few years, all his hard work would pay off, when the current boss, Sawada Hisao, would finally retire.

God – no one liked the old geezer, and the whole office would throw a party the day the revolving door at the entrance would close behind him for good.

He was a tyrant and a slave driver, who didn't give a damn if he worked his employees into the ground. As long as it produced a profit – anything goes.

Too bad Asai wasn't the only promising upstart or the office at the end of this corridor with its large windows and the fantastic view would be his without a doubt. Not a small feat at forty-three, but as things stood now, he couldn't afford to slack off – hence the late working hours.

With a wistful sigh, he turned to give the office of his dreams a last look, noticing that the door was still closed. Some muffled arguing could be heard, but he couldn't distinguish who was there with Sawada.

 _'Oh – seems like Sawada-san hasn't left his territory for today. Poor soul that has to deal with him this late.'_

He wasn't sure if Sawada was actually being productive when he worked overtime or if he just avoided going home to his nagging wife. Surely a reason why he had stayed the head of the company much longer than he had strictly needed to.

Asai shrugged and turned back to press the call button for the elevator, when he heard a shout and a loud cracking noise, resounding in his ears like thunder.

He whirled around. _'What was that? It almost sounded like – a gunshot!?'_

Maybe he was a coward, but he couldn't do anything against the sudden shaking of his hands and his legs felt like jelly.

Fight or flight reaction set in and flight clearly won. He wanted to get away. Now!

 _'I have to hide! Where?...'_

He frantically looked around, searching for a place that seemed safe enough to give him shelter from the shooter. The hallway was mostly bare aside from some potted plants that wouldn't do much for covering him.

Finally, his body obeyed his panic and he ran into the next open office, crawling under the desk in the utmost last corner, shaking like a leaf when he heard that Sawada's door was opened.

He put his hands over his mouth to smother any noises his accelerated breath could make and prayed that he wouldn't be discovered.

Soft footsteps, muted by the carpet, hastily came down the corridor. When they passed the office he was hiding in, he pressed his eyes shut as if that would let him go unnoticed if the shooter decided to take a closer look.

When nothing happened, and the footsteps went further into the direction of the elevator, Asai let out a shuddering breath. Now that he thought that the immediate danger was over, curiosity set in.

 _'Who is that? Did he really shoot Sawada just now?'_

Then the thought struck him that he would have to report what had happened to the police and that he had no clue what to tell them. For a potential next boss, it was shameful to admit that all he had done was hiding and shaking. He wouldn't be able to endure the humiliation when his colleagues - his future subordinates - would look down on him.

He gathered all his willpower and courage and crept back to the open door to carefully peek around the door jamb.

A figure was standing before the elevator that just had announced its arrival with a soft _'ping'_. The doors parted, and the person made the first step to enter. Asai quickly drew back before he would be seen, and the elevator was on its way down.

The moment had been short. Too short to actually be able to see the features hidden beneath a cap that had been drawn deep into the face. All he could say, was that the person was slender and wearing a janitor suit.

When he was sure that the shooter was gone, Asai made a dash to Sawada's office. The door was closed again, and he fumbled with his master key, he owned as proxy of the company.

Maybe it wasn't too late, and he could help. He imagined how he would save Sawada's life and would be nominated by Sawada himself as his successor.

That little fantasy however was very short-lived when he entered the room and saw his boss sitting in his chair, with his head leaning over the backrest and his mouth wide open. Sawada's face was frozen in an unbelieving expression and Asai didn't need to take another step to be sure that he was dead.

The bleeding hole in the middle of his forehead was proof enough.

o-oOo-o

A person was sitting at his desk in his apartment, rubbing at his shower-damp hair with a towel. The phone had just rung, and the caller said to get to the company immediately. The police were asking questions. The boss was dead. Murdered. Asai had seen it. They hung up.

The person tensed. They had discovered the body so fast! There has been a witness and to make it even worse, it had been _him._

 _'How much did he really see? Am I busted?'_

Slowly _,_ the person came to a conclusion and opened the top drawer of the desk, taking something out.

o-oOo-o

The flashes of the camera reflected in the large windows and lightened up the office for a few seconds. It let the already pale face of the victim seem even more ghostly when Shinichi leaned in to get a better look at the wound.

"Sawada Hisao, leader of the pharmaceutical company 'Ginko Laboratories', seventy-four years old," Takagi read from his ever-present note-book. "He was found earlier tonight by one of his employees, Asai Kazuma, who was an ear-witness to the gunshot and got a glimpse of the culprit. The time was around 9:30 pm and Asai-san was about to go home when he heard the shot. He took cover in one of the empty offices and saw how the culprit left before he ran over to Sawada."

Shinichi listened to Takagi's explanation while sniffing a bit near the victim's crumpled lapels.

 _'What is this smell? A cologne? No – it's a more female fragrance, so a parfum? And someone had a really harsh grip on his blazer… Hmm…'_

Not finding anything other out of the ordinary on the victim, he turned around to face the Police Detective. "So, we got a description of the culprit?"

Takagi shook his head. "No, sadly not. Asai-san could only state that the culprit was slender in built and that he was wearing a janitor suit and a cap. One like the cleaning crew that is working here is using. Not really form-fitting, so he wasn't sure if it was a man or a woman."

 _'Would have been too easy.'_ Shinichi thought, sighing. They wouldn't have needed to call him if they already knew who the culprit was after all.

"And what about the cleaning crew? Did they notice anything?"

Takagi flipped back a few pages until he found the notes in question. "No, they still had been on the floor below - just heard the noise of the shot but didn't know what to make of it. But one of the spare suits is missing. We think it is safe to assume that the culprit stole it."

"Who are the suspects so far?"

Another flip of some pages.

"We have three prime suspects and Megure-keibu is currently speaking with them in the next room."

He reached Shinichi his note-book, so that he could read the information about the three people himself. Shinichi memorized everything and handed the book back to him.

"Thanks a lot, Takagi-keiji," he said with a smile.

Working alongside his usual acquaintances from division one was always the easiest for him. They had listened to him even as he had been Conan, and they trusted his judgement – different from some other teams that weren't too thrilled to have a consulting detective snooping around at their crime scene.

Shinichi had long since learned not to give a damn about them.

He got called for help, he solved the case, he got paid. That was his job now after all, and he wouldn't slack off just to give some 'hotshot' the opportunity to mark his territory.

Mostly, they came around when they realized that he wasn't there to make the police look incompetent but to catch a culprit – a murderer. Aside from one or two exceptions, the Detectives and Inspectors were professionals in the end and knew what had priority.

He still felt grateful that those of division one who knew about his time as grade-schooler had accepted him back without much fuss. Sure – he had to endure the one or other jab or joke but he could easily let it slide for fooling them for so long.

Now, he went to accompany Megure for the interrogations, leaving Takagi to oversee the work of the forensics.

He knocked on the door to make his presence known and entered after Megure answered with a short "Come in."

"Ah, Kudou-kun," the Inspector greeted him with a smile, waving him to his side.

"Hello, Inspector," Shinichi said and gave the others in the room a nod as greeting. Looking around, he noticed that one person he had expected to see was not in the room.

"Where is Satou-keiji?"

It was still 'Satou' and not 'Takagi Miwako', despite them being married for some years now. Working on the same team and sharing the same name was bound to lead to confusion, so they had decided to keep their last names.

Everyone in the division knew that once Megure would announce his resignation or got promoted, Satou would take his place as she was more leader material than Takagi, if the announcement of kids didn't come first. The betting pool was growing every month or so Shinichi had heard.

"She is down at the entrance to look for other possible suspects with the security team. She should be back soon. She-"

"The pretty little thing from earlier?" an arrogant looking man in his mid-thirties, who was wearing sport clothes and had clearly put on a bit too much cologne interrupted irritated. He could be glad that Takagi wasn't around. The usually shy detective was really protective about his wife and didn't take good to insults at her.

"Hey - I really don't get why you are treating me as a suspect, but I already got questioned by her, so can I leave already? Just go and bother Asai or Nakazawa. I have work to do! Do you have any idea what Sawada's death means for us?"

"Matsuoka-san. We are very aware of that and that's exactly why you are here." Megure shot him a stern gaze that shut him up for now, though Shinichi wasn't sure for how long that would last.

Matsuoka Ryuu seemed to be a ruthless guy, who didn't have any qualms using the situation for his advantage.

Next to him, his co-worker, Nakazawa Kaori was desperately trying to hold back some tears.

Matsuoka saw it and let out a cynical laugh.

"Ha! You're actually bawling? And here I thought you were just fucking him for your career. Say - did you kill him out of passion?"

"Matsuoka-san!" Megure called him to order again.

Shinichi observed the other two. Nakazawa was sending a hateful look at Matsuoka while Asai was watching her with a sad and longing expression. When she noticed his eyes on her, she turned away with a haughty huff.

Wow - here seemed to be quite the tension at work.

Matsuoka, who obviously was driven, Nakazawa, who seemingly had an affair with the victim and Asai, who had a thing for Nakazawa, who in turn didn't even look at him, instead slept with the boss.

Money, passion, envy - all of them very strong motives that had been the cause for many murders before.

The door opened, and Satou entered the room. While exchanging a quick wave with Shinichi, she gave Megure her report.

"I've talked with the security and a member of the cleaning crew called in ill while I was there. The man was quite surprised to hear that he had been in the building tonight. We checked, and the card was scanned at nine-twelve, way after the rest of the cleaning crew came in. Also, it was scanned out right after the gunshot."

That answered the question of how the culprit had been able to access and leave the building. Someone had known the company good enough to get the suit out of the storage without problems and was informed about ill members of the cleaning crew. Everything pointed to an employee of the company and not someone from outside.

"Didn't the guard at the entrance see him come and leave?" Megure asked her.

"No, the cleaning crew uses a backdoor as entrance because the management didn't want them to come through the front door. Something about image or such nonsense. Most of the people are gone anyway when they begin their work, so I don't really see the point, but apparently Sawada liked to show off his superiority."

"Right," Megure sweatdropped. Sawada really seemed to have been a rather unpleasant fellow. He opened the door and turned to the suspects.

"I want to talk with each of you individually. Asai-san and Matsuoka-san, could you please wait outside? Just don't leave the floor."

Matsuoka looked like he wanted to oppose, but then thought better of it and strode out of the room with his hands in his pockets.

Asai followed him wordlessly.

Megure turned his attention to Nakazawa and decided to come straight to the point. Alone the prospect of questioning Matsuoka later was tiring, and he'd had a long day already. Couldn't criminals at least be considerate enough to do their deeds at regular working hours?

With an internal sigh, he thought about Midori's excellent katsudon, he had to abandon when he had been called in for the investigation. His wife had not been pleased, but she was married long enough with a police officer to know that if he had the choice, he would always put her first. If he wasn't back too late, she would even reheat the dish for him. Something worth getting over with this quickly.

"Nakazawa-san, how long have you been working here already?" he started the interrogation.

"I've been employed here for eight years now and I've been a proxy for one year."

She was a fragile-looking woman in her late thirties. Ordinary, plain and meek were words that came to mind while looking at her modest grey business costume and her timid posture. If she would even be able to lead people was questionable, but somehow, she had made it this far anyway. Maybe…

"Nakazawa-san, is what Matsuoka-san said correct? Did you have an affair with Sawada-san?"

She wrung her hands and looked to the ground, biting her lips, rendering the quiet 'Yes.' almost redundant.

"How long had that been going on?"

Nakazawa still avoided any eye-contact and looked quite miserable. "For… for almost two years now."

Shinichi took an unobtrusive step closer to her and inhaled deeply through his nose. There was the strong smell of jasmine and a hint of musk, just enough to take off the edge of the sweetness, making it a very pleasant scent.

He recognized the parfum instantly.

"You've been with Sawada-san tonight as well, right?"

She stared at him, shocked. "I… no, well – yes, but I swear, I didn't kill him!" she stuttered out. "I would never harm Sawada-sam-, err -san."

Shinichi raised an eyebrow at her slipup. She had been about to say 'sama' instead of 'san'. Not that unusual a calling for a superior, but not if the other one held such a high position as Nakazawa herself.

Most likely it stemmed from their sexual involvement with each other and if what Shinichi and Megure as well suspected was true, then Sawada had been more than dominant in their relationship.

What if hadn't been completely mutual?

If Sawada had promoted her just if she was willing to sleep with him, that could have let to growing aggression on Nakazawa's part. Maybe even enough to put an end to it. Permanently.

Nakazawa seemed to sense their thoughts and desperately began to defend herself. "No, please – don't get the wrong impression. He truly loved me! He said that he could see my potential and that he would help me to live up to it." Tears swam in her eyes again. "My family would have been so proud." The end of her sentence drowned in a sobbing hiccup.

Satou took pity on her and gestured at Megure to pause the questioning. He nodded in agreement and Satou led the crying Nakazawa out of the room. Maybe some womanly empathy would bring them more answers.

Megure took a deep breath. Dealing with so tender women wasn't exactly his forte. Next, he wanted to speak with Asai. He was a witness, but also a suspect as he had been alone on the floor with Sawada when he called for the police. Even though unlikely, it was possible that he just came up with the story about a third person and used the janitor suit and ID-card as a ruse. It certainly didn't hurt to be thorough.

"Kudou-kun, could you go get Asai-san? And maybe you can take care of questioning Matsuoka-san?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure, Inspector."

Shinichi went to the door and looked down the corridor in his search for Asai and found the man in an argument with Matsuoka. An officer stood a bit away, keeping an eye on them.

"Why would you be the next leader, Matsuoka?" Asai spat out. "No one in the company can stand you, no one will vouch for you. You're just an asshole."

Matsuoka's hands clenched into fists and his frame trembled from suppressed fury. Shinichi had half the mind to step in to prevent a fight between the two men, but Matsuoka just let out a tsking sound and made a step away from Asai.

"You know what, Asai? You're not even worth beating up. And by the way," he said, taking a small spray can out of the pocket of his training jacket. "You really should do something about your sweating – you stink." With that, he pointed the can at him and sprayed him all over with it, then quickly turned around and strode away with brisk steps. Only now he became aware of Shinichi's presence and frowned.

"Was there something you wanted?" he asked, completely ignoring Asai's coughing that sounded from behind them as he tried to fan away the cloud of deodorant surrounding him. "I want to get home now if you don't mind. Have to get a good night's sleep before tomorrow all hell breaks loose when our clients hear about Sawada's death."

A bit baffled by so much insolence and callousness, Shinichi was lost for words for a moment. This man really didn't give a damn about the people around him. His eyes narrowed. He himself for sure wouldn't be intimidated that easily.

"Just a few basic questions about your alibi. Asai-san, can you please go to Megure-keibu? He has some questions for you as well."

Asai nodded and went back into the office where Megure was waiting.

Matsuoka sighed, longsuffering. "Didn't I give all that to your pretty female colleague already? Meh… fine – I left work early today, around six pm. Then I was at the gym next door to work out as I always do on Tuesdays. You can ask the staff there about it. I showered and went home and then I got called back here."

"Anyone at your home who can testify that you've been there tonight?"

"No, detective," he grinned smugly. "The girls don't tend to stick around for breakfast if you know what I mean."

Oh, Shinichi understood only too well. Everything in Matsuoka's posture said, 'I'm a playboy, I'm daring, I'm god's gift to women – recognize me!'

He had to suppress an eye-rolling. How annoying.

"Right. I will confirm your alibi with the staff from the gym. When did you leave there?"

Matsuoka made a dismissive sound. "Not sure – around ten? Hadn't been aware I had to know the exact minute at that time. Just ask them when I checked out, that should be enough for you."

"That's quite a long time for a workout," Shinichi said, noting everything down.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed at his blazer and pulled him forward. Matsuoka's breath hissed against Shinichi's face. "Are you saying I'm a suspect? I told you that I was at the gym!"

Unfazed, Shinichi stared right back at him. "You did, and I will check that, but assaulting an investigator won't help you any. I would advise that you let go now," he stated calmly, knowing that the officer behind him was already coming over.

With an angry huff, Matsuoka opened his fists and stepped back.

Shinichi straightened his blazer, frowning at the crinkles Matsuoka's hands had left on his lapels. ' _Just like on Sawada's_.'

Sadly, not enough to arrest the man. "You can go home for now, Matsuoka-san. Just make sure we can reach you anytime and stay in the city."

o-oOo-o

When Shinichi came home this night, almost all lights in the house were already turned off. Ran always just left on a small lamp in the entry when she went to bed before he came back, what happened every so often when he had a tough case or she had early shifts.

Shinichi turned the key, slipped out of his shoes and padded into the kitchen on socked feet. He was more than lucky to have a wife who, despite working fulltime herself, still somehow managed to cook a meal for dinner or at least thought about bringing home some takeout.

Today was no exception and he found a bowl of nikujaga in the fridge that he popped into the microwave to reheat it.

While he ate, he flipped through his notes from the case. Too bad that Ran was asleep already. He liked to toss ideas back and forth with her because she always brought some fresh notions into the mix. Well, maybe tomorrow night, because he wouldn't see her in the morning either as she would get up very early and always made sure not to wake him. How she did that was beyond him because he never managed to pull that off when he was the one leaving first.

He put his empty plate into the dish-washer, went upstairs to the bathroom and got ready for bed. With utmost care, he opened the door to their bedroom, making no noise at all.

Ran had left the window open to get at least a bit of circulation into the room that had heated up during the day. The silvery light of the moon crept through a slit between the curtains and was just bright enough that he could see her sleeping features. She didn't even budge an inch when he closed the door and lay down on the mattress. Must have been one hell of a day for her too. Normally, she woke at least for a brief kiss before drifting back to sleep, assured that he was home and next to her.

He brushed her forehead with his lips in a feather-light kiss and got comfortable to get some much-needed rest as well.

* * *

 **A/N:** Welcome to a new story!

This is a story after the defeat of the Black Organization, so Shinichi is back for good and working as an independent private investigator.

Updates should be once a week and I really hope you enjoy this fanfiction. If you do - please concider leaving me a review. It helps to get through sleepless nights full of writing ;-)


	2. Two

**Chapter two**  
o-oOo-o

* * *

Day two, 8:56 a.m.

Asai tiredly shuffled the notes in front of him from the left to the right for the umpteenth time. The previous night had taken a toll on him and he had a hard time focusing on anything that was being said during this emergency meeting.

 _'It's just unfair how fit and proper Matsuoka is looking,'_ he thought begrudgingly.

He really hated this man's guts.

Asai himself was already in his forties and if he wanted to accomplish anything in his life, he had to step up his game or Matsuoka would take the place that should be righteously his.

After all, he was working his ass off for this company for over twelve years now and he had been sure that he would be the next in line for the executive chair when Sawada had finally promoted him and made him a proxy.

And then Matsuoka had shown up five years ago and had gotten proxy after just three years. Asai had been furious. How did that prick deserve to get easily what had taken Asai himself a lot of work, time and effort?

And if that wasn't bad enough, one year ago, Nakazawa had also been made proxy.

Even though Asai has secretly been in love with her for quite some time, he hadn't understood the reason why she would be promoted to that position. She was good as an office worker, but she was no leader, what was exactly what he liked about her. Submissive and gentle – just like a woman was supposed to be.

But he had been happy that he got to see her more often, because all three of them shared an office.

Until that dreadful day when he had stayed late to ask her out, only to discover that she was sleeping with Sawada.

With Sawada!

The man could be her father!

And was married by the way.

Just the thought of it made Asai sick and he had tried to talk some sense into her, to convince her to stop that affair and maybe consider himself instead.

She had made it quite clear that she didn't want him to butt in and that she didn't want anything to do with him as a man in general.

Asai had been heartbroken, but he didn't want to give up. He still wanted her and maybe – just maybe, he now had a chance to win her over.

Now that the old geezer was dead.

A little twinge of guilt sparked in his gut, but he shoved it away. He couldn't afford to be weak if he wanted to lead a big company.

Giving himself a shake to focus again, he looked over at Nakazawa, who was dutifully (though with an expressionless face) listening to whatever Matsuoka was saying.

Suddenly, she caught his gaze and frowned.

Asai averted his eyes hastily and felt heat rising up his neck and face.

 _'Calm down,'_ he chided himself. _'It was just a look – nothing to freak out about.'_

But no matter how hard he tried to regain his composure, he still felt hot and his head was spinning. Maybe splashing his face with some cold water would help.

He got up to go to the washroom.

With a clatter, his chair fell over when he suddenly lost his balance.

The whole room tilted to the side and for a second, he thought he saw shock flitting over Nakazawa's face.

Then he blacked out.

o-oOo-o  
Day two, 9:32 a.m.

Ran hurried through the hospital's corridors to get to the room she had been called to. It wasn't unusual that she had to rush to a patient, but this time it was even a bit more unsettling because the police were involved.

Apparently, the patient, Asai Kazuma, had collapsed during a meeting in the company he worked for, and because he was somehow entangled in an ongoing police investigation, not only had his co-workers called for an ambulance but also for the police.

So, when she entered the room with the number 317, she was greeted by the familiar faces of Megure and Takagi and the nurse who had taken care of Asai so far.

"Good morning," Ran greeted everyone present.

Megure and Takagi, who had turned to the sound of the opening door, returned her friendly smile.

"Ran-kun, good to see you," Megure answered her fondly.

Ran was almost like family for him as he had known her for almost her whole life. Eri had sometimes brought her along when her husband had yet again forgotten his lunch and she had to bring it to him to the Police Department. Little Ran had been all smiles and quickly won the hearts of all officers working there.

Later, she had tagged along on some of Shinichi's cases (although not by choice), but Megure really got to see her a lot after Edogawa Conan had entered the scene. Usually, she had been the one to call the police and to keep Conan in check - what really had been quite the task, considering that the brilliant mind of Kudou Shinichi had been hiding behind the innocent mask of the grade-schooler.

That the two of them finally got their happy ending as in 'a normal everyday life like any ordinary couple', had been a relief and joy for all their friends. Well, as normal a life as possible for someone married to a murder/trouble-magnet.

Now, Ran was leaning over Asai to perform some standard examinations and checked her findings with the data on the clipboard the nurse had handed to her.

"Has he regained consciousness since he collapsed?" she asked without addressing anyone in particular.

"No," Takagi answered. "According to the paramedics who brought him here, he fainted during the meeting and has been out ever since. His colleagues reported that he had been pale the whole morning and obviously didn't feel well, but they had blamed it on the stress of finding Sawada's body and didn't think much about it."

Ran put a hand on Asai's chin to open his mouth. She wanted to get a good look at his throat and make a swab for a culture.

Suddenly, Asai began to cough violently and Ran leaned back hastily, giving him room to breathe. After he calmed down, she took the swab again and ran it against the insides of his mouth. Then she took a syringe and drew a small amount of blood. She gave both samples to the nurse who was waiting beside her.

"He seems to have an infection. Bring that to the laboratory and let them make a rapid test, please. His fever is very high and I want to know if it is a viral or a bacterial infection. I don't want to give him antibiotics needlessly."

The nurse gave a short bow and hurried out of the room.

Now, alone with the two officers and the unconscious patient, Ran could speak more openly. Even though everyone at the hospital was subjected to medical confidentiality, an ongoing police investigation asked for some discretion.

"He is a suspect in your current case?"

"Yes, actually even our only witness. Maybe the pressure was too much for him," Megure wondered.

"We will see that we'll bring him back to health, so you can close your case quickly, keibu," she smiled with a wink and noted that down. It wasn't unheard of that people collapsed under enormous stress and were more prone to catch illnesses.

"I know you'll do your best – as always, Ran-kun," he replied. "I'm sure, your husband will appreciate that, seeing that he is on the case as well."

Ran looked up from the clipboard, surprised. Shinichi hadn't told her anything about a new case, but then again, she hadn't talked to him since yesterday when they had lunch together.

It must have happened afterwards and now she knew why he had been late last night.

Right now, there wasn't much she could do for Asai until the results from the lab came back, except keeping an eye on his temperature and giving him fluids to prevent dehydration.

So, she bid the officers good-bye with a greeting for Shinichi and went on with her day.

o-oOo-o  
Day two, 12:16 p.m.

With a sigh, Shinichi checked the clock. Yesterday at this time he had sat down with his wife and had a good chat over a so-so curry for lunch with her. The hospital canteen was okay - nothing compared to Ran's cooking skills, but one had to make do with what you got when time was short.

Today, his lunch would consist of whatever he found in the vending machines of Ginko-Laboratories. He could have eaten at their canteen, but he didn't feel comfortable with that.

Afterwards, he would go and find someone who could tell him a bit more about their three suspects.

He already had checked Matsuoka's alibi. He really had been at the fitness center that was located next door, as proven by the timestamps of his membership card and the statement of the young man working at the reception desk.

With a sigh, Shinichi inserted a coin into the vending machine and chose an instant noodle soup. Steaming cup in hand, he sat down at the small seating area at the windows of this floor. The view was great. Ginko-Laboratories certainly wasn't a company to sniff at.

Stirring his soup with a plastic spoon and a bit lost in his thoughts, he started when someone dragged the chair opposite from him away from the table and sat down.

He looked up and saw a young woman with bleached light-brown hair and green eyes, burning with curiosity.

"You're with the police, right?" she asked without prelude.

"Err – yes, I am. My name is Kudou Shinichi," he confirmed, a bit uncertain where the conversation was headed.

"Is it true that you've arrested Asai-san? Did he murder Sawada-san?"

"I'm not allowed to give any information about the investigation, but no – we didn't arrest him. I heard he collapsed this morning and was brought to the hospital."

Takagi had told him about it in passing when he had met him at the Police Department this morning, though the Detective had been in a hurry to get something done for Satou, so Shinichi knew no details.

"Haah," the woman sighed, disappointed. "And here I hoped that the creep finally got what he deserved."

That got Shinichi's attention. Office gossip wasn't exactly reliable but often held a grain of truth to it. "What do you mean?"

Obviously liking his interest, she sat up straighter. No doubt a chatter-box, she had clearly aimed to hook him with that line from the start.

"Okay, so you know Nakazawa Kaori? Stupid question, of course you do," she laughed. "Well, Asai-san was after her skirt for as long as she's working here, and she hated it. Wanted nothing to do with him but he didn't get it. I tried to help her out too, but he still ogled her every chance he got." She made a face. "Disgusting."

That much Shinichi knew already. That Nakazawa disliked Asai wasn't that hard to figure out.

 _'Let's see if she knows something useful as well.'_

He somehow got the impression that she didn't start a conversation with him just to vent about Asai.

"Excuse me, I think I didn't catch your name," he told her with an apologizing smile.

"Ah! Sorry, sorry – Izumi Ayaka, pleased to meet you, Kudou-san. I've read a lot about you – just good stuff of course," she winked.

"Likewise, and – thanks," he answered quickly, glossing over the fact that he still felt a bit uncomfortable about his name being widely known again. He had sweated through his first few interviews before he learned to control the urge to run for it the moment the cameras were directed at him.

"So, what about Nakazawa-san and Sawada-san?"

Mistrust glinted in Izumi's eyes.

 _'So, there really is more she knows. She tried to help Nakazawa with Asai, so are they friends? And if that's the case – did Nakazawa confide in her regarding Sawada?'_

"Nakazawa-san already confirmed that they had an affair, so don't worry – you're not giving away a secret," he hurried to assure her. "I'd just like to know if you had the impression that she was happy with him. You care about her, don't you?"

Izumi bit her lips. Shinichi could see that she was battling with herself if she should open up to him or not.

"I'll tell you something," he said in a low voice, looking around to see if they could be overheard. "I don't think that she murdered him, but I get the feeling that their relationship wasn't a healthy one. A colleague tried to get her to talk but she was quite tight-lipped, and her alibi is shaky for she was home alone." He leaned forward. "I need to understand what has been going on between those two, so I can prove her innocence. Won't you help me?"

She eyed him warily, considering if his offer was genuine, but it seemed she hadn't lied when she said, she had read just good things about him, because she finally nodded.

"Alright, I'll tell you, but not here." She stood up and gestured at him to follow her.

After a short ride in the elevator, they reached the 41st floor and she led him to an empty office.

"They are all at lunch right now, so we should have a few undisturbed moments."

She sat down at a desk next to the window and pulled another chair over for Shinichi to sit on. A photo next to a red tea cup showed her and a man, smiling at the camera.

Izumi kneaded the hem of her shirt, suddenly nervous and no longer confident and mischievous like in the beginning.

"When Kaori started the affair with Sawada-san, I told her to stop, but she wouldn't listen – all rose-tinted love and so on. That lasted for some time before I noticed a change in her. Whenever she met him or just spoke about him, she seemed subdued – well, more than usual anyway. I asked her about it, but she said that it was nothing; that he treated her good," she snorted.

"I didn't believe her and when it got worse after her promotion, I spied on them on one of their... dates. What I saw was…"

A shiver ran through her whole body and she looked away from him as she continued.

"He humiliated her, verbally and bodily. I wanted to drag her out of there right there and then, but she… she seemed to like it. Don't get me wrong – I know that some people have some bizarre sexy kinks and if they are turned on by it, by all means – go for it, I don't care, but she… It was different – it was not… How did you say it? Healthy.

"I confronted her about it just last week again and she told me to get lost, that her 'Sawada-sama' truly loved her." The name alone seemed to leave an unpleasant taste on her tongue as she scrunched up her nose. "I had the feeling that I talked to some brainwashed follower, but I didn't know what to do about it. And then we got the news that Sawada is dead…"

Their eyes connected again, and her gaze was intent.

"I was relieved. A man was dead, and I felt relief. Is that wrong?"

Shinichi looked at her in silence for a moment. "I don't believe that caring for a friend is wrong, Izumi-san. You weren't relieved because someone died but because he couldn't hurt your friend anymore. Don't feel bad about it."

From the looks of it, Nakazawa suffered from something called 'Identification with the aggressor'. A mental state that could occur when a victim was abused over a longer duration and began to feel affection for the aggressor instead of hate. It's a defense-mechanism that's trying to keep the victim sane. An example would be the Stockholm Syndrome, but Nakazawa hadn't been kidnapped.

She'd remained in her usual environment but had still been dependent on Sawada's goodwill. Disobedience would have led to consequences that she hadn't been willing to face. Most likely she would have lost her job and if what Satou had suspected after her talk with her was right, then she had no one to fall back on. Though Nakazawa had refused to go into too much detail about her and Sawada, she had spoken about her background.

Her family was poor and lived in a shady district of Tokyo. Nakazawa had been the first to go to college and get a good job. She was the financial backbone for her parents and siblings.

And that was the reason why she wouldn't have killed her 'benefactor', no matter how much she suffered.

He had to see to it that she got professional help after the case was closed.

But to prove her innocence, Shinichi had to point out the real culprit. And while he was sure that Matsuoka had killed his boss, he lacked evidence.

"Can you tell me something about Matsuoka-san as well?"

Izumi rolled her eyes. "He's a nasty bastard, a playboy and a clean-freak. I think he showers twice a day and hates people who reek or use overpowering fragrances."

Shinichi remembered how Matsuoka had sprayed Asai with deodorant the night of the murder. While the smell of sweat wasn't pleasant, that was a bit extreme for his liking.

"Yeah, I witnessed that already, but how about his work? Is he reliable? Did he get along with Sawada-san?"

"Reliable – well, I guess he is. He got proxy for a reason and Sawada was not into guys, so… yeah. He joined the company after we got that wave of new customers a few years back and he had good connections, so he was able to land some big contracts. I was his personal secretary for a while and he made sure that all work was done correctly and in time."

"A wave of new customers?"

"Yes," Izumi said and activated her monitor with a movement of her mouse. She unlocked the screen with her password, clicked here and there and pulled up a file.

"A big competitor of ours was abolished and their customers needed new suppliers and labs. That was…" she scrolled down a bit. "Six years ago, a pharmacy company called-"

"Kurosake Pharmaceutical," Shinichi finished unison with her.

"Yes, you're knowledgeable about the pharma industry?" she blinked at him in surprise. "Then again, I think many people remember that incident. That Tokyo's biggest criminal organization had used Kurosake Pharmaceutical as a front made the headlines for months after all."

It had. Though Shinichi had been too occupied with recuperating from his injuries and the antidote at that time to really follow anything not directly related to the takedown of the Black Organization, so he had only read the police reports and not the newspapers.

And then Kuroba Kaito had turned to him for help.

And Fukui Kamiko kidnapped him.

And not to forget the bank robbery, and the Red Room Murders.

Really, a lot had happened since back then, and suddenly being confronted with the after-effects of the end of his old nightmare was… strange.

"I always thought a few of his connections to be a bit shady if you ask me," Izumi musingly interrupted his thoughts and he realized that he had spaced out.

"Sorry?"

"Matsuoka-san – some of his business partners give a shady impression. And I know that just a few weeks ago, he tried to persuade Kaori to sign contracts with more than questionable content. She refused, of course, and he was furious about it," she smirked at that memory, pleased with her friend's reaction. Matsuoka had thought he could use her to serve his own ends, but he had been dead wrong.

"Did she tell Sawada-san about those contracts?"

Izumi shook her head. "No idea. She distanced herself from me after our little confrontation, which happened shortly after that."

 _'Guess I'll have to ask Nakazawa herself then.'_

The door to the office opened and two of Izumi's collogues strolled in, just to stop short when they noticed Shinichi, recognizing him.

"Oh, sorry," one of them said and took a step backwards. "We didn't want to interrupt."

Shinichi took the cup with the forgotten and by now cold noodle-soup and stood up. "No, it's alright. We were done anyway." He turned to Izumi and bowed shortly, reaching her one of his business cards. "Thank you for your time, Izumi-san, if there is anything else, do not hesitate to contact me."

o-oOo-o

Getting a hold of Nakazawa hadn't been easy as she was occupied with meetings the whole day. Damage control, marketing, strategy… It was already evening when she found time for him. One should think that a murder investigation took precedence.

The two of them were sitting in a conference room were the last meeting just had ended. Some empty coffee cups still stood on the table and Shinichi gave them a wistful look. Black, strong coffee sounded heavenly right now but Nakazawa didn't offer him any and he wouldn't ask.

She was still jotting down some notes and he waited until she finally clicked her pen closed and looked at him. She was much more composed than the night before, even though he could see that she was pale under her carefully applied subtle makeup.

"I hope you can forgive my rudeness, Detective, but this is a madhouse right now and we need to get everything under control as fast as possible."

Shinichi nodded in understanding, though he still in private thought that the affairs of the company could have waited for a day or two. Well, too bad that his patience was running low now and he didn't have it in him anymore to skirt around the topics at hand.

"Nakazawa-san, I hoped that you could tell me about some contracts, Matsuoka-san wanted you to sign recently."

Her eyes widened a fraction. "How do you know about that?"

He didn't want to get Izumi into trouble for giving him information and also, he was sure that Nakazawa would soon need her as a shoulder to cry on. "That doesn't matter. I do, and I want to know what those contracts were about."

"That is confidential," she replied hurriedly. "Anything else? I need to finish these papers."

It was obvious that she only tried to hide something from him. If it was helping to solve a murder case, nothing was really confidential anymore. He couldn't force her to tell him, but he could get a warrant if need be, though he wanted to avoid that time-consuming method.

Considering what Izumi had said, he already had a pretty good idea about the content of those mysterious contracts.

"Let me take a guess then."

Shinichi leaned back and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Matsuoka-san wanted to make a deal with a business partner that wasn't exactly legal, and he didn't want Sawada-san to know about it. As proxy holders of this company, I'm sure you could forgo his signature if both of you agree on something. That's why he came to you, the – please excuse my wording - presumed weak link. He was sure he could get you to sign the papers, but you refused."

He leaned forward again, propping his elbows on his knees. "Now it's getting a bit hypothetical, but please bear with me. Let's say those contracts were immensely important to Matsuoka-san for some reason. You refused to sign, and he knew that Asai-san would never have done it. His only option was go to Sawada-san in the end. What if Sawada-san refused as well? And what if Matsuoka-san didn't take 'no' for an answer?"

During his little monologue, Nakazawa had squirmed in her seat and now her eyes swam in tears. That hadn't been his intention, but he needed her to tell him what she knew.

"Nakazawa-san, what were those contracts about?"

She took a shuddering breath and looked to the side, collecting herself.

"A dubious company wanted us to develop a new product and Matsuoka-san wanted to do it. I remembered that we refused them as a customer a few years back when they wanted to contract us. They even sent a representative a few times, but Sawada-san chased him away. He never would have made illegal deals."

"What kind of product was that?"

She shrugged, wiping away a stray tear from her cheek. "Well, I didn't read the complete chemical composition, but there where ingredients that are forbidden in regular medication, so I turned him down right away."

"Do you recall the name of the company?"

"Yokoyama Incorporated."

* * *

 **A/N:** Alright, we get a glimps at Ran and her work at the hospital. I though a job were she could actually help people would fit her better than the courtroom, many other writers choose for her. Also, if you want to know more about the downfall of the Black Organisation aka Kurosake Pharmaceutical, go and read 'Scars'. ;-)

The other things mentioned after that (like Fukui Kamiko or the bank robbery) ar other stories I've written. If you are interested - go check them out ;-)

Thanks a lot for your reviews and for following and/or giving the story a fav! It makes me really happy :))


	3. Three

**Chapter three**  
o-oOo-o

* * *

Day two, 7:09 p.m.

Shinichi was seated in a swivel-chair in front of a monitor, showing security tapes in fast-forward.

After his conversation with Nakazawa, he had given Megure the name of the company that had tried to make the deal with Matsuoka and then hurried over to the fitness studio again.

He needed evidence and he had a hunch that he would find it here, so right now, he was watching what the studio's security cameras had recorded.

So far, he had seen Matsuoka's arrival shortly after six, what matched his statement and the timestamp of his membership card. Now, he waited for the video-feed to get to the time he had left, while observing if he could catch anything strange. Sometimes Matsuoka showed up on the tapes, exercising, but nothing else.

At 10:09 pm, Matsuoka left and went for the parking lot of Ginko Laboratories to get his car. A few minutes later, Shinichi saw his silver Honda drive by and leave in direction of the highway.

Rewind. Watch. Fast-forward and repeat.

Nothing.

No matter how often Shinichi watched the recordings, he couldn't find anything amiss. With a sigh, he got up and thanked the guard, when the camera showing the backstreet moved a bit to the side and captured the back entrance of the Chinese restaurant on the other side.

He paused.

Then he took off in a sprint.

o-oOo-o

"Can anyone tell me what this ruckus is about?" Matsuoka asked annoyed as Megure, Takagi and Shinichi entered the office he shared with Nakazawa and Asai, but currently was empty aside from himself.

His nervous secretary bowed. "I'm sorry Matsuoka-san, they just went in without permission."

He waved her out dismissively.

"Megure-keibu, care to tell me what's the meaning of this?"

"Gladly, Matsuoka-san," Megure replied and stepped forward so he stood directly before the man.

"Matsuoka Ryuu, you are hereby arrested for murder of Sawada Hisao. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you," he said while cuffing Matsuoka, who looked down on his captured hands in astonishment.

"You are – what?" he exploded and yanked free of Megure's grip. "How dare you? You can't just barge in and accuse me of murder! Do you even know what you are talking about?"

"Be assured, we do." Megure's voice was stern. "Last night, you left work to exercise at the fitness studio as usual. But instead of training, you went back to Sawada's office and after a heated argument, you shot him."

Matsuoka laughed. "Ha! Are you insane? When should I have done that? I have an alibi in case you forgot."

"Actually," Shinichi cut in, "you don't."

"What?"

The young consultant casually strode forward and came to a stop next to Megure. "We suspected all along that you were the culprit, but as you said – you had an alibi and we lacked evidence. Until tonight that is."

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. "It's true – you went to the gym you even worked out as well, but you found the time to take a break and go over to Ginko Laboratories, disguised in a janitor suit you stole beforehand and brought along in your sports-bag. You copied the ID-card of a member of the cleaning-crew – as proxy you have the security clearance to do so after all – and entered through the back door to have a conversation with your boss to have him sign some contracts," he began unraveling that night's events.

"I think you'd asked him once before already, but he declined, maybe even threatened to fire you if you wouldn't let go of the matter. After all, the deal was concerning illegal medication. The opportunity those contracts offered you were too good to pass, so you decided to ask him one more time and in case he would decline again, you came prepared. After you two had an argument, you shot him. You left without noticing that Asai-san had seen you, to get your stuff from the gym and head home."

"Yeah, sure," Matsuoka huffed. "As if you could prove any of that."

"In fact, we can." A confident grin spread over Shinichi's face. "You obviously didn't notice, but the Chinese Restaurant behind the fitness studio had a burglary last week and decided to upgrade their security. The camera was installed just yesterday morning and it covers the whole backstreet, including the window of the men's bathrooms belonging to the fitness studio."

He saw with satisfaction how Matsuoka broke into a sweat.

"It shows how you climb through the window, dressed in a janitor suit, at exactly 9:06 pm and how you came running and got back in at 9:41. At 10:09 you left the gym through the front door and got your car to head home. I'm sure you got rid of the weapon and the suit somewhere along the way. Right now, officers are already searching the area."

Matsuoka let out a low growling sound, and before anyone could react, he lunged forward and tackled Shinichi to the ground with his shoulder.

„You! I knew you would be trouble! I should have done something about you much sooner!"

After a second of surprise and having the air knocked out of him, Shinichi had already managed to position himself to throw Matsuoka off, but a clicking sound let both struggling men freeze.

Shinichi smirked up at Matsuoka, knowing that two guns were trained at the man's back right know, and seeing his expression, he was aware of it as well.

„I think I told you that once already, Matsuoka-san. Assaulting an investigator is not the smartest idea."

With that, he gave him a hard shove and Matsuoka, who was simultaneously pulled off of Shinichi by a fuming Megure, lost his balance. While the Inspector handled the situation, Takagi helped Shinichi up from the ground.

„Are you alright, Kudou-kun?"

„Just fine, thanks."

He looked over to Megure, who was calling for two more officers to get Matsuoka to the police-car.

„Well, can't say his training didn't pay off. That tackle had some power behind it. The fitness studio will lose a capable member, I'm afraid. Too bad for him that he didn't know about the additional security camera."

"But why did he take so long before he left the studio?" Takagi asked. "He could have just grabbed his stuff and be on his way, or even position it in his car from the beginning. Then he wouldn't have needed to go back to the gym at all."

"For one, he wanted his alibi to be waterproof, so he needed the cameras to record him while he was leaving after the time of the murder. Also, he couldn't because of the smell," Shinichi explained, but Takagi still looked confused, so he elaborated.

"He reeked of the gunpowder of the fired weapon and also wanted to wash off the residues. He didn't know when the dead Sawada would be found, so he couldn't risk waiting until he got home to take a shower, but what was unnerving him with his aversion for strong smells even more was something else. Something that even made him use an awful lot of his cologne."

He made a short pause to see Matsuoka's reaction, who was listening from where Megure was guarding him. His hateful face didn't disappoint.

"He got it on his hands when he gripped hard onto Sawada-san's lapels. It was the fragrance of Nakazawa-san's perfume that is quite potent. Potent enough to have been rubbed off onto Sawada-san's blazer when he had met up with her shortly before.

"The scent of jasmine and musk."

o-oOo-o  
Day two, 7:16 p.m.

With a relieved sigh, Ran closed the front door behind herself, turned on the lights and shook off the shoes from her tired feet.

She was exhausted and worried. That it had been another sweltering summer day didn't help and she went into the kitchen, opening the window and allowing the slightly cooler night air to freshen up the hot room.

Asai's fever hadn't dropped. Even antipyretics had only worked for some time before his temperature went up again.

They still didn't know what illness was causing this and the laboratory was working frantically to get results. Ran had suspected the glandular fever, but the symptoms didn't match up completely. The lymph nodes for example hadn't been swollen when she checked his throat and he should have felt symptoms much earlier and not so sudden that it took him by surprise and he collapsed.

Normally, Ran had the night and the following day off, but because of the situation, she would only take a quick shower, grab a change of clothes and head back to the hospital. So, she wouldn't see her husband tonight either and planned to send him a text later, to let him know that she would be at the hospital.

 _'_ _I don't think Shinichi will be home anytime soon. Knowing him, he probably ran on snacks and coffee the whole day if not ignoring his empty stomach completely.'_

With an affectionate smile, she put a bag with takeout into the fridge, she had bought on her way home.

While she trudged through the hallway to open another window in the living room, she wondered how Shinichi's investigation was going and hoped he wouldn't forget to drink enough in this heat that today seemed to be especially bad. After all, she knew how he tended to block out everything that wasn't directly related to the case he was working on.

Another wave of fatigue made her sway a bit and she turned to make her way upstairs. Hopefully, the shower would cool her down a bit and get rid of the sleepiness.

o-oOo-o  
Day two, 9:32 p.m.

Shinichi was late again when he let the car roll up the driveway to their house and was glad to see that the lights were on, meaning that Ran was still up, waiting for him.

With their unsteady schedules it was normal to just see each other briefly or not at all sometimes, but they both tried hard to make enough time for them as a couple.

So, after getting into the house, he called out a cheery "I'm home!" and waited for her response. When it didn't come, he frowned but shook off the uneasy feeling. For sure she was just upstairs and didn't hear him.

He put his shoes next to hers and was about to climb the stairs to search for her, when he saw her motionless figure lying face down on the floor in the hallway to the living room.

In an instant, he was kneeling at her side.

"Ran!"

He checked her vital signs, which were there though weak, and searched for visible injuries and when he found nothing, her carefully turned her around.

Her complexion was pale, and her face was covered with a thin layer of sweat. Her breathing was shallow and rushed. A hand to her forehead confirmed what he already knew. She was running a high fever.

Not bothering to search for a thermometer to take her exact temperature, he ripped out his cell-phone and dialed the number for an ambulance.

o-oOo-o  
Day 3, 02:45 a.m.

"Here," came a calm voice from his right and when he turned his head to that direction, a cup of steaming hot coffee came into view. Shinichi's gaze wandered from the hand holding it over the outstretched arm, covered by a white lab coat to a face, framed by reddish-blond hair and finally met a pair of clear blue eyes.

It was seldom to spot worry or even open concern in them - sarcasm or something indifferent were more common. Even though she had learned to be more open during the last few years and her smile was no longer tinted with sadness all the time.

"Thanks, Miyano," he said in a weary voice and took the hot beverage from her. But instead of drinking, he just stared with dull eyes into its murky depths.

A resigned huff of air and a soft thud told him that Shiho had taken the chair next to him and that she wasn't pleased with his behavior.

Yes - he knew he couldn't do anything to help Ran right now, that she would chide him for sitting here and wearing himself out.

He couldn't help it.

How was he supposed to sleep while she was lying there in this hospital room all alone, fighting against a fever that just wouldn't drop.

Shinichi barely could remember what he had said on the phone after dialing 119. Probably just his trained reflex to state all necessary facts had made it possible for him to get anything sensible across. When the paramedics had arrived at their house, he had been on his knees in front of the couch, where he had carried her, and next to him some damp towels and a bucket of cold water in an attempt to bring her fever down.

The ride in the ambulance was a blur and in the emergency room they had said something about another patient with similar symptoms. The next thing he knew was how the door of this room on the quarantine station had been shut in front of his nose. There was just a window through which he could see her unmoving form on the bed, with tubes leading from infusion bags down to her arms that lay limp on the stark white sheets.

Since then, doctors and nurses, dressed up in protective clothing had come and gone, but no one had been able to tell him what was wrong with her.

One of the nurses had tried to usher him to a waiting room or the cafeteria, but he had just shaken his head. Shortly after that, she had brought him a chair, so he wouldn't fall over from exhaustion.

Somewhere along the way, he'd had the presence of mind to call Ran's parents and they had occupied two other chairs for some time before going home again with the promise to be back early in the morning and yes - he would call them if anything happened in the meantime.

His own parents wouldn't be back before tomorrow evening from his father's latest promotion tour for his new book. He would call them then.

And now, Shiho was sitting on one of those chairs, taking sips from her own cup and observed him out of the corner of her eye.

She had seen the different behavior of many husbands, wives, kids, friends – all the people who were waiting to hear about the condition of their loved ones.

Some would rage, screaming for the doctors to do something, threatening to sue the hospital.

Some would cry, maybe plead and pray for a miracle.

Some would try to be helpful, running around like headless chickens.

And some would just sit there and stare at nothing, unable to come to terms with what happened.

Shinichi belonged in this last group.

It was unsettling to see him like this - he, who never lost hope and pushed forward come hell or highwater, now just looked empty.

This was a culprit, he couldn't fight, couldn't confront with his deductions to bring him down and the helplessness was paralyzing.

Shiho took a deep breath. She wasn't normally the one to console others, but she knew that her friend needed her right now. She checked her clock. The blood cultures and tests they were running all needed some time and she didn't have to go back until they were done. Her team was capable enough to oversee everything on their own.

With a short message to her assistant, Kobayakawa Emi, to take care of the lab for the time being, she reached for Shinichi.

He jerked when his still full cup was taken from him and an arm slid around his shoulders and softly, but firmly pulled him down into a half-lying position, resting his head on the lap of the woman next to him.

"Miyano?" He looked up at her questioningly.

"Hush, sleep. Ran would not be pleased if she'd know that I let you run yourself ragged and I don't want to get on her bad side. Don't worry – I'll keep watch over her."

He looked at her a moment longer, but her eyes were fixed on the window of Ran's room. He allowed himself a small smile before he slowly drifted into sleep, reassured that someone he trusted with his life would have an eye on the woman who made said life worth living.

o-oOo-o

When he woke again, he needed a few seconds to realize where he was and why, but then he got up with a start.

"Ran!"

He shot up, efficiently falling off the chair and person he had been resting on.

"Calm down, Kudou-kun."

He blinked in confusion before picking himself up from the linoleum floor and turned to Ran's room to look through the window. "How is she?"

Shiho sighed, stretching a bit after sitting so long in the same position.

"Still the same. Her fever is stagnating at 39.8 and just like with Asai, the antipyretics aren't working anymore. She must have been infected when she examined him yesterday."

"Asai? Like in Asai Kazuma?" Shinichi asked her, whirling around to grab her shoulders.

Confused, Shiho met his intense gaze, almost burning right through her.

"Y-Yes. She has been in charge of him when he came in yesterday with an infection. After the results came back that it was a viral one and highly contagious, he has been placed here on the quarantine station." She pointed to the door next to Ran's room.

"I think Ran-san had went home already when the information about the virus being that contagious came, or she would never have left the hospital. No one expected, well… this. We still don't know what kind of infection it is, but it seems to be transmitted via droplets as a nurse reported that Asai-san coughed suddenly while Ran-san was near his face."

Shinichi's thoughts raced.

He had known that Asai had been admitted to the hospital yesterday, but he thought that he had just collapsed due to stress. It was strange that he so suddenly developed such a severe illness with no warning signs at all. The man had been fine when Shinichi had seen him last. Shaken, yes - but fine. And just the morning after, Asai had collapsed.

 _'Sudden disease, droplet transmission, no symptoms the day before, -'_

His eyes widened.

 _'_ _Wait – droplet transmission?'_

"That bastard!" he spat out and dashed down the corridor, leaving a baffled Shiho behind.

o-oOo-o  
Day 3, 8:15 a.m.

Back in her lab, Shiho was preparing to take on her protective clothing to check on the cultures. The sliding door behind her opened and a nurse came in, pushing a cart before her where the latest blood samples from Ran and Asai were placed upon.

Shiho frowned. It should be common knowledge to ask before entering, especially in a laboratory. After a scolding glance at the nurse, who she not remembered ever seeing here before, she proceeded to put on her clothes. _'Must be a rookie.'_

Just when she was about to place the facial mask over her mouth, Kobayakawa Emi stood in the door. "Seno-san, what have I told you? Never enter Miyano-senpai's laboratory without permission!"

Unfortunately, Seno-san was so startled by Kobayakawa's outburst that she staggered, and the cart hit the edge of the table, Shiho was standing next to.

The samples clattered to the ground and one of them broke upon impact, splattering blood around.

For a moment nobody moved.

Shiho had raised her arms protectively and thus avoided the drops of flying blood.

Almost that is.

"Well - damn," she stated dryly, wiping a stray blood droplet out of her right eye.

* * *

 **A/N:  
** Yeah - I don't think anyone was surprised about the culprit. It was more about the 'how' than the 'who'. but as you can see, we are not done yet. Stay tuned and thanks again for your support! :)


	4. Four

**Chapter four**  
o-oOo-o

* * *

Day 3, 8:25 a.m.

Traffic in the morning was hell in Tokyo.

Shinichi cursed himself for not thinking about that. He should have taken the train or bus, then he would have been faster and would not be stuck at this thrice-damned crossroad. At least it gave him ample time to make diverse calls, because it seemed to be problematic to get a hold on a person in custody this early.

He'd explained that it was an emergency and that he needed to talk to the man as soon as possible, but the bureaucratic nightmare that was the Japanese legal system got in his way.

When he finally arrived at the jail where Matsuoka had been brought to, Megure was already waiting for him and led the way to the room where Matsuoka was currently speaking with his lawyer.

"Kudou-kun, are you sure about this? Is this even possible?"

"Anything is possible, Inspector," he answered with a grim smile, gesturing at himself and reminding Megure what the Black Organization had done to him.

They came to a stop in front of the door and Shinichi barely bothered to knock before he entered the room, the guard coming short in their attempt to hold him back after a hand sign of Megure.

The two men sitting at a table inside the room looked up in surprise. The one not cuffed to the tabletop jumped out of his chair. "What-?"

"Matsuoka," Shinichi roared, no longer caring about honorifics. He stopped at the table and pressed both hands on its surface, leaning close to the man.

"What did you do to Asai Kazuma? What was in that spray can?"

Matsuoka looked at him perplexed, then he laughed. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. How is he doing by the way?"

Shinichi gritted his teeth, itching with the urge to hit Matsuoka and just beat it out of him. "You used some kind of spray on him in the night of the interrogation and the next morning he develops an unknown disease. Coincidence? I don't think so."

He was getting louder now, overwhelmed by his feelings, professionalism thrown out of the window. "You tried to silence him in case he would remember anything that would point to you as the culprit. Too bad that we found out anyway, so spit it out! What did you do?"

Matsuoka gave him a smug smirk and leaned back – the picture of arrogance.

"Detective, why so upset? What happened to keeping a level-head?"

"You son of a-"

"Kudou-kun!" Megure cut in and put a calming hand on Shinichi's shoulder. The young consultant was losing his temper and while Megure could understand his behavior, it would only hinder the interrogation.

If what Kudou had told him on the phone was true, then they couldn't waste any time here.

"Matsuoka-san," Megure began, making use of years of experience and throwing in all the weight of his rank as Inspector. "You're already going to be charged with first degree murder, there is no way around it, but now there are lives on the line that can be saved. If you are cooperating, you might avoid a charge of premeditated murder in two cases and I highly advise that you do cooperate, because if you refuse, I will personally ensure that you will rot in your cell and never see the light of day again."

"Two cases, huh?" Matsuoka said and sent a musing glance at Shinichi.

"Stop pressuring my client, Megure-keibu," the lawyer complained meanwhile, but was silenced by a wave of Matsuoka who watched Megure with narrowed eyes, weighing his options while Shinichi stared at Megure whom he had seen confront many murderers, but rarely had acted like this.

Megure was like an uncle for him and though he sure had his temper and wasn't above swearing, he never threatened suspects. But obviously, he took this case as personal as Shinichi did, because the only times Shinichi remembered he had behaved like this, had concerned his wife and well, he had been furious about the whole Black Organization case of course.

He absolutely did not tolerate when someone he felt was under his care was targeted – be it his family, his officers or someone from the Mouri or Kudou family.

Shinichi himself had a hard time suppressing the oh-so-familiar fear that came with the knowledge that again, his line of work was somehow to blame that Ran was in danger. He had lived this personal nightmare once already years ago and now it had come back to torment him once more.

So, when Matsuoka finally gave in and told them what they needed to know, they were partially relieved and partially horrified by the information he gave them.

o-oOo-o  
Day 3, 11:18 a.m.

Shinichi stormed in the direction of Shiho's lab, alternating between swearing and shouting her name, just to come to a full stop when he saw some tape with the bio-hazard sign sealing off the door.

"What-"

"Kudou-kun," came Shiho's voice out of the intercom installed next to the glass door. "I hope you bring good news, but considering that I could hear your shouting a mile away, I'm afraid it's the opposite."

Perplexed, he looked into the room, seeing how she turned to him from where she was sitting in front of a microscope with a serious face and waited for his answer.

"Good news? What the hell happened here?"

"An unfortunate combination of a jumpy rookie and me being splattered by contaminated blood," she informed him, absolutely unfazed.

It took a moment to sink in, but then Shinichi gasped. "You've been infected?"

Shiho shrugged. "Positive, though there are no symptoms so far and all tests came back without results, but we don't know what to look for after all and it's more like poking around in the dark. So, tell me – do you have anything useful? Because my time is kind of limited now and I have to work here alone. Everyone entering this lab would be compromised to the virus, but at least I don't have to work in full protective gear anymore."

Shinichi gaped at her. Leave it to Shiho to talk about her own situation in such a clinical way.

"Kudou-san!"

He looked around when he heard his name from behind him. Shiho's assistant, Kobayakawa Emi, came out of the neighboring laboratory.

"Thank god, maybe you can talk some sense into Miyano-senpai. She refuses to go to the quarantine station to get treated."

Shinichi snorted at the thought alone. "Sorry, Kobayakawa-san, but I've never been able to talk this stubborn woman out of anything. Miyano," he asked, turning back to her to try anyway. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Making a cure for your wife, idiot. I'm not the head of the biochemical lab for nothing, you know? And if I take Asai's and Ran-san's course of disease into consideration, I have at least seven hours before the fever will strike and I intend to make good use of them instead of idly lying on a hospital bed." She made a face at the mere thought. "So, I'll ask you one last time: Do you know anything that can help us?"

Thinking back on his conversation with Matsuoka made his anger flare up again. "Do you know what this ass-hole did?" He had to gulp in some steadying breathes before he could continue.

"Matsuoka – he tried to make a deal with a company named Yokoyama Incorporated. At first, I thought it was only about illegal medication, maybe drugs, but you've told me that this mysterious virus is conveyed by droplet transmission and I remembered how Matsuoka used a spray on Asai-san the night before he collapsed. Turned out Yokoyama Inc. wanted him to create and produce a biological weapon and they offered him connections into the military black market if he could become the head of the company and would then continue to 'support' them. They had loose connetctions to the BO back then and were trying to find a new... supplier. Unfortunately, is seems that one can make a fortune with death and Matsuoka is a greedy bastard."

A bitter smile tugged at his lips and he lowered his head. His bangs covered the fury in his eyes.

"He realized that Asai-san could get in his way if he remembered something incriminating about the night of Sawada-san's death and decided to test a prototype on him."

His hands clenched into tight fists and his whole frame shook. "It is an altered version of the Epstein-Barr virus that causes the glandular fever, but with a much shorter incubation period and much more aggressive. It is highly contagious and resistant to all known vaccines. It also lacks the usual symptoms, so that the infected person won't realize what's wrong until it is too late."

Shiho's eyes had grown large at his explanation. "What about the antibodies in Ran-san's blood? In my blood? We should be able to-"

"No," he interrupted her. "You won't find anything in the blood work. Well, there will be antibodies, but none against this particular virus. The body stops creating antibodies two hours after the infection. The virus blocks them. That's why the disease progresses so fast and why the fever won't break. At least that is what Matsuoka told us," he finished, his voice trailing off into a whisper at the end.

Shiho looked over at the experimental setup that should have been able to give her the answers to help Ran, now knowing that whatever results they would get, they would be useless. She had drawn her own blood directly after she'd been infected, but it already had been used up for other tests.

"But…" For once, she didn't know what to say. She had to tell him what also had happened in his absence, but he already looked so hopeless.

He knew her well enough to see that she was holding something back. "What is it, Miyano?"

"Kudou-kun," she began uncertain, gathering her courage. "This morning, at 10:32, Asai Kazuma died."

His head flew up, horror in his eyes. If Asai had died that quickly, that meant that Ran would… and Shiho as well…

Shiho broke him out of his stupor. "Ran-san is strong! Her constitution is much better than Asai's. Also, she has been infected much later than him. We still have time to run some tests, to infect some mice if need be, to-"

"I will do it."

She almost stumbled over her words at his quiet statement.

"Excuse me?" she said, hoping she had heard wrong.

Shinichi straightened, determination radiating from him. "I will do it. Infect me with the virus and use the antibodies my body will create in the first two hours to make a cure."

She stared at him.

He always was prone to rash decisions, and when it came to Ran's safety even more so, but this was just… she couldn't allow that.

"What about possible complications due to your run-in with the APTX? There's no trace of it in your blood anymore, but your immune system is not that strong. We can run some other tests before we restore to that. I will not-"

"Ran doesn't have the time for other tests and you know better than me that you need to run the tests on a human or the results are not reliable."

"But- you can't do that to your heart. It has suffered enough and I'm honestly not sure if it could take another escapade of yours."

"I'm afraid it has to," he laughed bitterly, knowing that it would shatter anyway if he lost Ran.

He placed his hands on the glass doors and fixed his intent gaze on her, his blue eyes dark with worry and despair.

"Miyano, please - I don't give a damn about complications, just do it already!"

o-oOo-o  
Day 3, 3:20 p.m.

He was typing in the data, Shiho dictated him while she observed the blood-culture under her microscope. It was all he really could do to help as he was not that experienced with lab work and they had only this chance to get it right.

Failure was no option.

Shiho had drawn his blood every twenty minutes after the injection to get the highest rate of antibodies and it had topped out after forty minutes. After that, it had dropped rapidly, and the virus had taken over even before the two hours mark.

He thought about Ran and how she was fighting for her life on the quarantine station.

Shinichi cursed Matsuoka and his damned scheming that had dragged his wife and his friend into this dire situation. His teeth grinded against each other, pressed together by tightly gritted jaws. Sweat ran down his forehead for a while now and he felt exhausted, but he should be okay for a while longer.

For Ran it had been about ten hours before the virus really had struck. Maybe he had a bit less due to the APTX that had wreaked havoc in his body, but it should be enough to finish this. It had barely been four hours since Shiho had infected him and she herself still showed no symptoms so far.

Time.

So little time.

They would make the most of it and they would succeed!

Through the closed glass door of the laboratory that had been sealed off again after he had insisted to help Shiho, they could see concerned faces peeking in every now and then. Shiho's team was on standby and waited for any word of them to take action. They supported them from the other labs as good as they could, processing the data they sent to them via intranet. Especially Kobayakawa was often watching them, the worry for her mentor written all over her face.

He looked over to Shiho, who had gone silent a few minutes ago and was currently extracting something with a syringe from the culture dish and carefully added it to a solution in a vial. She inserted it into a machine that began to spin it around at high speed.

The rotating motion caught his gaze and even though much too fast to follow, put him in a trance-like state until someone snapped their fingers before his eyes.

"Hey, Kudou-kun, you still alright?" Shiho asked and with some difficulty, he tore his eyes from the spinning machine. "I called you three times already."

"Yes, fine," he answered weakly, though not even he himself bought that obvious lie. His whole body suddenly felt hot and he swayed on the spot.

"Okay, that's it for you," she told him decidedly and activated the intercom again, despite his protest that he could keep going. "Kobayakawa? Send someone in to get Kudou-kun."

She saw how his shoulders slumped in defeat and sighed. "Kudou-kun, I know how you feel and that you want to do everything possible to help Ran-san, but you won't do me or her any favor if you keel over here. I've only let you stay in the first place because I knew it would drive you up the walls to twiddle your thumbs and that wouldn't have helped your health any, but now you are going to be an obedient patient and lie down."

She reinforced her statement by pushing him gently onto the gurney that had been brought in by Emi and a very guilty looking Seno.

She didn't need any force to do so, because the moment he was sitting down, he all but tipped over and she had to catch him by his shoulders. She lowered him down and put a hand on his forehead, feeling the fever burning under his skin. It brought back unpleasant memories of the nights he slowly had turned back to being Shinichi for good.

"Go," she ushered the two out of the room. "Give him the antipyretics and keep watch over his pulse. His heart has suffered some damage in the past."

"Miyano-senpai, I'm so sorry!" Seno apologized for the maybe fourteenth time.

"Just take good care of them, will you?" Shiho asked her. "I will fix this!"

She watched as they rolled the gurney with Shinichi on it out of the room and waited until the doors had closed again with a pneumatic hiss, leaving her alone in the lab again.

Emi had given her a sad and worried look through the clear plastic visor of her protective helmet. Shiho was well aware that she herself had most probably also a shorter time span than Ran and Asai before the fever would spike. After all, she had taken the APTX and its antidote as well, even if not nearly as often as Shinichi, but for him to collapse _that_ fast-

 _'Four hours instead of ten. That's less than half the time, Kudou-kun.'_

If that said anything about the further course of his illness, she had no time to waste or he would be dead by dawn. Even before Ran.

She cursed.

Never should she have allowed for him to let himself be infected. She had _known_ what would happen.

Well – so had he.

Her shoulders sagged, thinking back on the grim and determined expression on his face when he had told her to do it. He would have gone through with it no matter what reasons she would have brought. He just wasn't objective when it came to Ran.

More like self-sacrificing, rash and sometimes downright self-destructive. Not that Ran was any better…

Shiho had never loved like this. The only true love she knew so far was the love for family, like for her sister and now for Agasa and the kids as well. Even if she maybe, perhaps, possibly had had a tiny weensy bit of a crush on Shinichi way back, she now knew it hadn't been anything serious. Just the feeling of a bond between two persons who could understand each other's situation, were on an equal mental level and then some parts admiration – even if she wouldn't openly admit it.

So, now it was up to her to save these two lovestruck friends of hers. Very dear friends at that. They were family to her as well, like brother and sister.

 _'Ha – seems like I'm quite the hypocrite here,'_ she thought with a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips, because yes – she would go to any lengths as well when it came to her family.

With new determination, she turned back to her computer and set to work, ignoring the weariness in her bones.

She wouldn't let them down.

o-oOo-o

When the numbers on the digital clock behind her sprung to 5:43 pm, she reached her limit.

The formulas danced and blurred before her eyes and her breath was hot as she let it out in heavy pants. With a shaking hand, she reached for the intercom and called for the lab next door. Emi answered immediately.

"Miyano-senpai?" Her voice was laced with concern and Shiho smiled weakly. Emi really was a good girl, who cared for her more than Shiho deserved.

"Kobayakawa," she wheezed. "I think that's it-"

"Senpai!" Emi exclaimed, nearly panicking.

Shiho rolled her eyes, wiping away some sweat that threatened to run into her eye. "Calm down, fool. I'm not going to die on the spot, but I will if you don't finish up my work."

She took a shaky breath and pressed the send-button one last time to mail the last data to her assistant. "It should be almost done."

"Really? That's amazing, senpai! I knew you could do it!"

"Yeah, yeah – stop gushing and come get me. I never thought that a hospital bed would seem appealing to me, but right now, I really want… to lay…"

Shiho slumped in her chair and she would have fallen to the floor if not for the pair of gloved hands that caught her just in time.

She hadn't even heard that the door had opened behind her, but now the lab was swarming with people in protective suits and equipment to decontaminate every nook and cranny.

Shiho herself was oblivious to the bustling around her, as the stretcher she was laying on was on its way to the quarantine station.


	5. Five

**Chapter five**  
o-oOo-o

* * *

Day 4

Shiho's team was without bragging one of the best, and based on Shiho's work they finished a cure in record time. All three patients were treated with it as soon as it was filled into intravenous drips. During the night, they all were on tight observation.

Shiho's fever was the first to break, because though she had been infected before Shinichi, her immune system was off way better than his and her body hadn't been weakened fighting off the virus like Ran's had done for two days by now.

It was the day after she collapsed and after resting for the whole night and most of the day that she was up around five in the evening to check on Ran and Shinichi.

Ran was making a good recovery and was just sleeping off the fatigue. She would feel worn out for the next few days but other than that she should be fine. Thanks to her healthy constitution, her body had been able to endure the high fever without complications.

Turning around, she now faced the bed Shinichi was resting on. His breathing was even, and his complexion had taken on a rosier tone again.

With him, it had been a bit more stressful for the nurses and doctors. They hadn't been able to bring down his fever by much and his condition had deteriorated rapidly. That he hadn't slipped into a coma was just thanks to the quick and relentless work of Emi and the rest of the team.

She was somewhat thankful that she had been asleep during that time. Seeing someone you cared for suffer was always unpleasant, but knowing that they were in that state because you had infected them with a virus yourself? Not a good feeling. Especially with Shinichi...

 _'_ _Been there, done that, didn't want the t-shirt.'_

Shiho let out a relieved breath. Emi had already told her everything what had happened while she had been out, but she had needed to see it with her own eyes.

That she had not failed her friends – her family.

o-oOo-o  
Day 5, 6:26 a.m.

Shinichi woke to soft breathing and a warm pressure against his hip. He felt shattered and his head seemed too heavy to even turn it to look who was keeping him company.

What had happened?

That he was in a hospital bed was pretty obvious – sadly, he knew the sensation of waking up in one all too well – but what was the reason this time?

His thoughts refused to stay in any logical order as they always faded into fogginess.

He let out a frustrated groan, and a cough, caused by his dry throat, roused the person resting beside him.

"Shin-chan?" his mother's voice murmured. Still sluggish from sleep, but quickly grasping the situation, she flew up to look at her son, who had been out for the last one and a half days.

They had come back from their promotion tour the day before yesterday in the evening, and she had wanted to give Ran the souvenir, she had bought her in Fukuoka. A pretty Hakata doll that looked just like Ran, dressed in a pale blue kimono.

But when they had come to their house, they had been surprised to not only find it empty, but also it seemed like Ran and Shinichi had left in a hurry. The door wasn't locked, and some windows were left open. Something they would never do.

Yusaku had called Agasa to ask him if he knew what was going on, but the old inventor hadn't heard from them for about a week. A bit worried, he had tried Megure next, knowing what kind of trouble followed his son wherever he went, and sure enough, the Inspector had informed them that Shinichi as well as Ran had been hospitalized.

They had rushed to Beika General and met Eri and Kogoro there, who filled them in about what had happened and what their current conditions were.

Especially the first half of the night had the two pairs of parents worried. They had to wait and see if and how good the cure was working, and Yukiko had been a bundle of nerves until finally the relieving news came that all three were doing better.

Shinichi might be old enough to live on his own, be married and a successful private detective, but he still was her little Shin-chan and she hated to see him looking so frail. Eri being in the same position with Ran hadn't made it any better, and Yusaku and Kogoro had somehow convinced them to go home somewhen after midnight.

They had been back the next morning, repeating the dance of watching over their children, chatting quietly and eating the food their husbands brought them.

Speaking with Shiho, who was already up and about again in the evening had been an enormous help to diffuse some of their worries.

Yukiko still had insisted to stay for the night and had camped out in their room, next to Shinichi's bed. She didn't want them to be alone when they woke up. Eri would take over in the morning and then Yukiko would go home to get some proper sleep.

Now that Shinichi had opened his eyes and seemed to be aware enough to somewhat comprehend what was going on around him, the knot that had sat in her stomach finally loosened.

"Shin-chan," she cried out and hugged him tightly before she handed him a cup of water to sooth his sore throat. "You three gave us quite a scare," she scolded a bit teary-eyed.

"Sorry, Kaa-san," Shinichi mumbled still a bit out of it and wearily looked over to the bed next to him, where Ran was still sleeping. He almost choked on the few sips of the water he had taken when the whole situation came back to him at once.

"Ran!"

In a rush of adrenaline, he almost ripped out the IV from his arm as he tried to jump out of his bed, only to fold forward when his head spun from the sudden movement. Yukiko caught him and gently eased him back onto his pillow where he panted and fought back the dancing black spots that were obscuring his vision.

"Easy, Shinichi. Ran is fine, she will wake up soon, I'm sure. Your body just fought a very high fever so it's to be expected that you will feel weak for some time."

She checked the time. "It's still early, maybe you should get some more rest. I'll let Shiho-chan know that you've been awake, so that she can check on you later."

That got another rise out of him. "Miyano – how is she?"

His mother chuckled on her way out. "Just fine, but I don't think she is too happy with what you did, even though she's thankful as well. Be prepared, son."

 _'_ _Yeah – sure,'_ he thought with a sinking feeling, but his mother was right – he needed some more sleep before he would feel fit enough to deal with whatever Shiho had in store for him.

o-oOo-o

The next time he woke, he felt much better. Nothing was spinning, and his head didn't seem to be full of cobwebs anymore. Someone must have checked on him while he was asleep because the IV had been removed and a band aid was placed over the small puncture site.

This time mindful of his movements, he carefully got up and placed his feet on the ground, testing his steadiness. Satisfied that he didn't feel too shaky, he stood up and went over to Ran's bed to sit down on one of the chairs that undoubtably had been occupied by her parents at some point. They were alone for now, but he was sure that would change soon.

He took her hand and his thumb stroke over her smooth skin.

She was sleeping peacefully, and he was thankful that her karate training, which she still held up, had made her body strong enough to pull through.

He closed his eyes at the mere though at what could have happened and let his head sink down to her mattress.

"One more minute, Shinichi," Ran muttered in her sleep and he smiled, looking at her as she slowly woke up.

"Morning, sleepyhead," he greeted her bleary gaze with a soft smile and cupped her face with his hands to give her a tender kiss.

He waited until she became more aware of her surroundings.

"Hospital?" was all she asked confused and he nodded.

"Feeling good enough to sit up a bit?"

She pushed herself up with his hand supporting her back when she didn't have quite the strength for it. He adjusted the head section of her bed so that she could lean back against it comfortably.

"What happened? I just remember... coming home from work." She scrunched up her nose in though. "I wanted to shower, I think…"

"I found you collapsed on the floor with a high fever." The picture of her lying on the ground had burned itself into his memory and his hand gripped her a little stronger just to reassure himself that she was okay.

"You got infected with a virus when you checked on Asai-san. Your fever just wouldn't break and then-" His voice got smaller and cracked at the end.

"Shinichi," she interrupted him. "It's alright - I'm fine now."

He took a deep breath and smiled at her, while for the first time since she woke, she actually became aware of his appearance, namely, the hospital gown he was wearing, and the fatigue that still clung to him.

"Why are you admitted as well? Did you get hurt during the case?" she frowned, looking him over worriedly, searching for any visible injuries.

"No, that's not it. I'm fine, just tired."

He squirmed a bit under her scrutinizing gaze, wishing he had thought about changing into his normal clothes that his mother had left for him in a bag on a chair, alongside with some of his other stuff.

"Yeah, sure," Ran said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You are wearing hospital clothes just for the fun of it. And you surely haven't been lying in the bed with the rumpled sheets next to me, right?" She glanced at the night-stand beside his bed. "Oh, look! The patient there just happens to own the same modified wrist-watch as you. What are the chances?"

"And they say I am a smart-ass," he muttered under his breath.

"What did you just say?" she asked with the sweetest smile that spelled out trouble in capital letters.

He held up his hands defensively. "Alright, alright, yes – I'm admitted here as well, but I swear, I'm not hurt and I'm completely fine."

"I'll be the judge of that," came Shiho's impassive voice from the door as she walked into the room without even looking up from the clipboard in her hands. "And I highly advise that you lie back down before I call for a nurse and _make_ you, Kudou-kun,"

"But, I..."

She turned her head to the hallway. "Hiromi-san, do you have a minute? I need a hand with a stubborn patient."

Shinichi paled and hurriedly made his way over to his bed under some chuckling from his wife.

Shiho gave him one last stern look before she turned to Ran.

"Welcome back, Ran-san. How are you feeling?" she asked with a genuine smile that Ran mirrored without hesitation.

"Exhausted, but otherwise fine, I think."

"Good."

Shiho took out her examination tools and began to check her pulse. Normally she would leave the check up to another doctor, seeing as she was a chemist, but with these two, she wanted to make sure herself that they were alright.

"Did Kudou-kun already fill you in on what happened?"

Ran nodded. "He told me that Asai-san had a contagious virus and that I have been here with a fever after I collapsed at home. Sorry for troubling you, Shiho-san," she said apologetically.

Shiho raised a brow at that. "You? No, Ran-san, you didn't trouble me at all. I'm just glad we could help you in time. It's your husband over there, who almost gave me a heart-attack, stubborn fool that his is."

Ran's eyes narrowed. "Shi-ni-chi. What did you do this time?"

Shinichi folded his arms, looking stubborn. "I didn't do anything wrong, and I would do the same again in a heartbeat – though I really hope I don't have to, because that would mean that I've brought you into another dangerous situation and then your dad will kill me for sure."

Now Ran was completely confused. "What are you talking about? What has my illness to do with you?"

"He is talking nonsense, like usual," Shiho stated dryly. "It was pure chance that Asai had been brought into this hospital and that Ran has been the one in charge of him. It had nothing to do with you being a detective whatsoever, so stop feeling guilty already."

Shinichi pouted at her chiding, but still felt a bit better. It was true after all. Even if he wouldn't have been on the case, Asai would still have collapsed and that it had happened during Ran's shift had been a coincidence – nothing more.

"Though you _should_ feel guilty about your reckless decision of getting yourself infected with that virus and almost dying, idiot," Shiho added after a moment, knowing that it would be best to get it out of way as soon as possible and that Shinichi tended to stave off those kinds of conversations.

"What..." Ran's shocked question wasn't more than a whisper. "You did what?"

Shiho stood up from Ran's bed and went over to Shinichi to check on him as well, but he shoved her away. If she wanted him to talk about it now, she could at least wait for a moment before poking him here and there.

"I had to do it, Ran. Maybe it wasn't the most elaborate plan, but it was the only way I could think of to safe you," he explained emphatically. "Asai already died, and I just couldn't…" His hands clenched into the stiff fabric of the bed sheets at the mere thought of losing her.

"Asai - died? ... But your-" Ran began horrified, realizing how much strain such a high fever put on the heart-muscle.

"He knew that, Ran-san," Shiho said calmly in Shinichi's stead, allowing him some time to compose himself.

"And the APTX-"

"Told him that too," Shiho sighed. "Did you really think that he would have listened to any reason when he knew you were suffering? I tried anyway, but you know how he is," she smiled while giving Shinichi a slight smack on the back of his head.

"Ow," he complained and rubbed the spot she had hit.

"You deserved that one for worrying Ran-san and for worrying me as well, by the way. Be a bit more considerate about your health. Though…"

She suddenly reached out to give him a short hug. "Thanks for the rescue, detective."

Hurriedly, she let go of him, took her tools and left the dumbfounded pair with a mumbled "See you later."

"She is still awkward about showing attachment, isn't she," Shinichi wondered and Ran snickered.

"She sure is and I don't think that will change anytime soon." She looked to him when she heard the soft rustling of his sheets as he shoved them away to get up and walk over to her again.

"Move over," he demanded.

"But Shiho-san said-"

"Miyano only said I had to lie down – she didn't specify _where_ though," he smirked with a mischievous glint that had Ran laughing, while he got comfortable next to her.

"Also, she left without nagging us about medical stuff, so she didn't find anything that bothered her. By the way – she doesn't have much room to talk as she had been infected as well, even though not by choice."

Ran gasped. "What else did I miss while I was out? You have to tell me everything!"

Shinichi exhaled deeply and put an arm around her, pulling her close. "I'll tell you, but first - just let me hold you for a while."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She was there, she was fine and just with that, he felt alive again.

o-oOo-o  
The End  
o-oOo-o

* * *

 **A/N:  
** So, that wraps up this story. I'm still unsure if I will add some chapters about the company that tried to make the deal with Matsuoka (You remember? Yokoyama Inc.?) but so far I didn't come up with any plot for it, that's why I will end this fic here.

Thanks a lot for you reviews and I hope you had some fun while reading :)

Till next time!


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